Guide to Spanish punctuation

Punctuation in Spanish

Punctuation (los signos de puntuación) such as commas, speech marks and question marks are essential for writing eloquent texts in Spanish.

Spanish punctuation has many of the same marks as English, however their use is often different, with many of the Spanish punctuation marks being obligatory as opposed to optional.

Check out the pages below to learn about the differences between Spanish and English punctuation.

Commas

Commas (las comas) are used to separate elements of a sentence from one another. While Spanish and English comma placement is often similar, there are certain differences we need to be mindful of.

Exclamation & question marks

Exclamation and question marks (los signos de exclamación (¡ !) y de interrogación (¿ ?) always appear in pairs in Spanish.

Quotation marks

Quotation marks (las comillas) are used to indicate direct speech, titles or quotes. Spanish has three types of quotation marks, angular (« »), single (‘ ’) and double (“ ”).